urbancountry

Urban Country Blog has moved and become Urban Country News! Following a long struggle with the company which hosts this domain, and their lack of cooperation to correct their mistake, we felt forced to move the website to a new domain. It was not an easy decision as we had developed a loyal readership here but it was necessary. The new website will be even more news website and less blog, Read Full Story

I can write rave reviews all I want, nothing substitutes seeing a show for yourself. As I can't take everyone who reads this with me to some of these performances (though I really wish I could), UCN will continue to bring Nashville Saturday nights to you via video. This edition features Chris Nathan who rocked, pretty much literally, Nashville's Blue Bar last Saturday night, May 28. 'Ain't Read Full Story

Sometimes you just have to break with convention. While Nashville is known for country music, it is home to many musical genres. Over the past few months, everyone who spent more than half an hour in my presence has heard about Chris Nathan. I have been trying to find an excuse to write about him here until I realized I didn’t need one. (I did previously sneak in a mention) His material is so Read Full Story

James Taylor and his Legendary Band – Chastain Park Amphitheater, Atlanta, GA – May 28, 2011 How do I write this review without using every superlative my thesaurus can throw at me? Amazing, wonderful, blissful, paradisiacal...? Alongside a summer tour with his son Ben, James Taylor is also playing dates with his Legendary Band. The first of two sold-out nights at Chastain Park Amphitheater Read Full Story

You never know who you might run into during a night out in Nashville. At Rippy's last Saturday, we came across 19-year-old Sammy Arriaga. Armed with an acoustic guitar and a bunch of talent, he entertained everyone with covers of contemporary country hits. His set contained several Keith Urban songs and we later learned that Keith is his number one inspiration. As an introduction to Sammy, Read Full Story

Last night in NJ, the choice for the cover song at the Sugarland show seemed rather obvious: REM's 'It's the End of the World'. The duo assisted Matt Nathanson with the help of Little Big Town. The result is pretty incredible, especially the work of Mr Nathanson on the verses! If you're not already a Matt Nathanson fan, take a moment to check out mattnathanson.com Read Full Story

From the press release: Superstar vocal group Rascal Flatts was at Chicago’s United Center last night to tape a surprise appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The band was tapped by Oprah’s producers to perform on one of their highly-anticipated finale shows “Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular Part 1.” Rascal Flatts performance is slated to air in the May 23rd episode; check local Read Full Story

It will never cease to be exciting when new artists take a chance and break with current convention to express themselves however they want to, with little regard for "chartability". With the musical influences of Waylon Jennings and Elvis in plain sight, Adam Fisher's 'Freight Train' manages to sound fresh whilst relying on an older sound. Country radio has not heard a song like this in a good Read Full Story

When a debut single does really well the temptation is often there to try to uphold an artist's image by releasing a similar track as a follow-up in an attempt to cement the new fan base. It is more interesting, however, when artists are confident enough to display their creative range early on and this is what Craig Campbell is doing with second single 'Fish.' Following Top 15 hit 'Family Man Read Full Story

Good single choices are always important but especially so when launching a new artist to radio. Craig Campbell and Bigger Picture get it right by releasing 'Fish' as the new single. Following Top 15 hit 'Family Man', which introduced us to Craig's serious side, we now get the tongue-in-cheek summer offering 'Fish.' The song was penned by Craig, Arlos Smith and Ashe Underwood and was built Read Full Story